T Stands for Tears and other things.

Hi everyone, I am feeling well and truly back home now having adjusted to the time change - I know it's only an hour difference but being away for a month meant it took little time!

I'm here to celebrate T Stands For Tuesday over at Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog - The Altered Book Lover so I'll start with my drink.

We started our holiday as we have the last few times we have visited, by called at the Petit Jean boulangerie and cafe in Cherbourg. It's very handy, as from here we just have to go round the roundabout and we are on the main route south. 

We both had Café Crémes to drink

I couldn't resist an apple beignet(basically a doughnut but much less doughy than we have in the UK) I also chose a croissant that we shared with coffee at a bar later.

We drove down so far then took the coast road to Utah Beach.

Our first stop was to the D Day landing memorial - a very quiet place with only one or two people visiting. No birdsong but in the Distance I heard my first Cuckoo of the summer. 

We drove on to Utah Beach - I don't know what I was expecting but I came to realise just how little I knew about the D Day landings during the following few days.

There are lots of commemorative statues but also so much still remaining from the war.

The bar had a lot of items on display

It was hard to imagine this beach was the scene of so many deaths

We had lunch in St Mere Eglise - one of the first towns to be liberated then headed to Omaha Beach.

This was one of the busiest places - there was a museum nearby too

I was looking at this when a lady from America said that could have been her Dad as he had been on the beach himself but that he hardly ever spoke about it, while I was telling her that my own Dad had wished he had been in Normandy but in fact had been in Africa but hardly ever spoke about it - we both had tears in our eyes, as we were speaking  another lady, from the Netherlands, said to us how sad it was, we started a conversation, she said her parents had terrible time doing the occupation of the Netherlands - we all ended up hugging each other while our husbands watched from a distance and then went our way - a moment I won't ever forget! 

We finished our day with a visit to the Overlord Museum - I realised that I had such a poor knowledge of what happened in Normandy in the days around D Day

We headed to our hotel in Bayeux, one we have used before so it was good to be somewhere familiar.

Since became home I have continued to educate myself by reading and watching TV programmes.

I hope you have found this interesting - I will continue with our visit to the English beaches next week if you wish or move on with our visit.

Thanks for looking, Chris

Here comes Summer!

Hi everyone, we seem to be having some better weather now so our new theme at Try It On Tuesday is very appropriate - 'Here Comes Summer'

The Design Team are all ready for it too so please take a look here!

I decided to make a little scene in my planner.

I added a temporary frame for this photograph. 

I love taking picnics out in the Summer - although not sure how I would get up if I relaxed like this on a rug!!

The scene is made up from mainly stickers, washi tape and Rub-on transfer stickers.

Here is the scene as it is in my planner

My planner  is a simple one - Meal Plans, a To Do list and a page for appointments, outings etc.

I hope you will join us at TIOT this time - the theme runs for the usual two weeks and the rules are here if you need to check them.

Thanks for looking, Chris

A very late Calendar Journal

Hi everyone, I have had to keep track of what I have been doing in a notebook until I could photograph this!

I love using Stamperia papers so when I wanted a quick calendar page I knew where to turn!

It also fits nicely with Matilde's theme at Art Journal Journey 'What Makes You Happy'

The background was made using a Lavinia stencil and some distress inks and I also added some washitape flowers

Here is last month all filled in - I took my journal squares with me to France for May but forgot all about the change in month while we were there!

There are some spoilers for upcoming posts if you want to read !

Thanks for looking, Chris

T Stands for the return(as well as TIOT and AJJ)

Hi everyone, I'm back! Yes, I am really good at stating the obvious!

I have been away for four weeks in France so stand by for my ranting on about how fantastic it was!

Just a few pics today randomly from my photos from the beginning of our holiday, I am still trying to get the rest in some sort of order!

We were lucky to visit some of the Normandy beaches in this, the 80th Anniversary of the D Day landings, as well as some museums, churches, historical buildings and lovely gardens!

Of course we had the odd drink or two, which is just as well as I am  joining the  T Stands For Tuesday' gang over at Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog The Altered Book Lover! We also shared a little tub of lemon sorbet.

I missed the beginning of the month at Art Journal Journey, where Matilde of '100% Handmade' blog is hosting with her theme of 'What Makes You Happy' as well as the latest theme at Try It On Tuesday which is "Use Book Paper' - I have made a journal page with an inked and spritzed stencil, a book page stamped with a  bird and some flowers and used a leafy sticker.

As you can see I have added spatters to my page, which always makes me happy!

The French words translate to 'a walk to recharge your batteries, listen to, feel, breathe the here and now' - I've done a lot of walking this holiday!

Thanks for looking, Chris